Ventura gives gutsy effort in loss to Chaminade

Cougars battle to end vs. elite team

Ventura High head coach Tim Garcia watched his team reel off four straight wins to claim the Channel League title.

But as he gathered his team around following its 36-3 loss to visiting Chaminade in a CIF-Southern Section Western Division playoff game on Friday night, Garcia could not have been more proud.

Facing a bigger, faster and deeper Chaminade (10-2) team, Garcia’s Cougars battled and fought from start to finish, putting up more of a fight than anyone on the Chaminade sideline ever expected.

“Tonight was a victory,” Garcia told his team. “I am more proud of you tonight than I have ever been.

“There are times when you can’t measure success by the numbers on the scoreboard. Tonight is one of those times. We fell short of our goal, but tonight shows the direction this program is going is up.”

The game got off to a bad start for Ventura (6-6). On the third play, Chaminade’s Donovan Lee stepped in front of a pass and sprinted untouched to the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown.

The quick strike stunned the Ventura crowd, but running back Tyler Peralta and the Cougars offensive line came to the rescue.

Opting to use Peralta as both a way to move the chains and keep the ball away from the Chaminade offense, Ventura kept handing the ball to the junior tailback, and he kept responding.

The Cougars offensive line was able to open some daylight for Peralta to run through on a consistent basis.

“Our game plan was to hold on to the ball, run the clock and keep their offense off the field,” Garcia said. “We did a really good job of doing that and it also frustrated them a little I think.”

Chaminade’s offense ran only seven plays in the first quarter, but that was enough to drive 65 yards for the team’s second touchdown of the game.

Quarterback Brad Kaaya moved the Eagles down the field with short passes to a variety of receivers. Once it got inside the Ventura 10-yard line, Chaminade turned to Lee, who took a pitch and bolted into the end zone. After a Ventura penalty prior to the extra point, Chaminade opted to go for two and converted it with a run by Lee.

Down 15-0, Ventura’s offense went back to work. Using a lot of Peralta and a few nice throws from quarterback Tyler Smith, Ventura moved from its own 20 to the Chaminade 12.

When the drive stalled, kicker Logan Sweet converted a 23-yard field goal to cut the Chaminade lead to 15-3.

With just over two minutes left in the first half, Ventura had first-and-goal at the Chaminade 9. After three plays were unsuccessful, Garcia decided to forgo the field-goal attempt and go for it. Smith’s toss into the corner of the end zone was broken up, leaving the Cougars down 15-3 at halftime.

Chaminade drove 94 yards to start the second half, with Yancy Kieren covering the final 43 with a burst up the middle to extend the lead to 22-3.

Chaminade put the game away late in the third quarter as Lee scored his third touchdown on a 23-yard run. He added a fourth score early in the fourth, ending the game with 162 yards on 18 carries.

Peralta’s numbers weren’t as gaudy as Lee’s, but the junior tailback had an impressive effort. He carried the ball 37 times for 154 yards. Fittingly, the game ended with Peralta making three consecutive runs as his team cheered him on.

“Sometimes in the playoffs you run into a team that his bigger, faster, stronger, and that’s what happened to us,” Garcia said. “Our kids were super excited about this opportunity.

“We want to be an elite program and I believe the only way you can be elite is to play elite teams. Chaminade is one of those teams and our kids embraced that challenge all week and here tonight.”